“Electronic commerce” and “e-commerce,” refer to buying and selling, and, in some instances, online delivery, of goods or services (hereinafter referred to as “items”) enabled at least in part by electronic systems such as the Internet. Specifically, “online retailing” can be used when referring to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. Most online retailing involves item selection, ordering, and payment via a web browser, then order fulfillment, and finally delivery by conventional delivery services. Typically, the consumer is willing to incur a short delay in fulfillment (often on the order of a day or two), and a delay in delivery.
Typical delivery times are 3-5 business days (or longer if free delivery is selected), with shorter delivery times available for a premium. Delivery options include downloading (for software items), direct shipping from the online retailer, drop shipping (by-passing the online retailer's location and shipping the item directly from a manufacturer or distributor), and printing or will-call (used primarily for tickets).
If the typical fulfillment and delivery latency is acceptable, then the location of the merchant typically does not matter to the consumer if delivery costs are relatively low. But in circumstances where one or more of the merchant location and delivery speed matter to the consumer, local online shopping may be used.
“Local shopping” when used in online retailing, can refer to activities that include responding to an online item query with the identity of one or more local brick-and-mortar stores that offer the item. The response typically includes store location, item price, item features, and current stocking level at each store location (as known by the online shopping system). Often, the item can be ordered online and picked up at a local brick- and mortar location within a matter of minutes or hours. Alternatively, the user can visit the brick-and-mortar location to buy the item offline after locating the local merchant offering the item and confirming that the item is in stock at that location.
If the consumer wants delivery of a locally stocked item within the near term, for example, the same day as ordering, then the consumer is typically limited to delivery from a single business (for example, pizza delivery and dry cleaning pick up and delivery), limited to delivery by an item category courier (for example, a multi-restaurant delivery service), limited to delivery by a general courier, or limited to the use of errand labor auction services (for example, online errand labor auction service).